I met DAME DARCY (Darcy Stanger, born 1971) twenty years ago on the set of a never-to-be-completed movie about the end of history; she was one of its stars, and in addition to my precision stunt driving gig, I was appointed her wrangler. When she wasn’t being filmed, Darcy could sometimes be coaxed into singing a dirge while accompanying herself on the autoharp, or working on her drawings (her long-running Fantagraphics comic Meat Cake would debut in ’93)… but she also wanted to play dress-up, use her telekinetic powers to slam doors, and get into fist fights. If she sounds like too much to handle, that’s because she is; now you know why her comic is called Meat Cake — they’re two decadent foods, so why not combine them? Darcy’s world is a child’s garden of verses overrun by drunken mermaids, grave-robbing French maids, and Vitalis-groomed cads. If this sort of thing sounds like your cup of spooky-kooky tea, readMeat Cake; pre-order her forthcoming graphic novel, Hand Book for Hot Witches; browse her paintings and illustrations; listen to her darkwave band, Death By Doll; and otherwise support her work.

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On his or her birthday, HiLobrow irregularly pays tribute to one of our high-, low-, no-, or hilobrow heroes. Also born this date: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Iain Sinclair.

READ MORE about members of the Reconstructionist generation (1964-73).